The U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC) has named a new Chair at their annual workshop in November. United States Potato Board’s (USPB) John Toaspern, International Marketing Vice President, has been a member of the Executive Committee and an officer of USAEDC for the past six year. He move’s from serving as Vice Chair to taking over the reins from Betsy Ward of the USA Rice Federation. Toaspern will serve a two year term as USAEDC Chair.

USAEDC is a non-profit, private-sector trade association. It is made up of agricultural groups who receive Market Access Program (MAP) funding and/or Foreign Market Development (FMD) funding from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). The purpose of this organization is to give its membership a unified voice in working with FAS on the administration of the MAP and FMD programs in the most effective ways possible. USAEDC and its members also assist FAS in demonstrating to Congress the effectiveness of the programs to help ensure continued government funding.

For more information on the USPB as the nation’s potato marketing organization, positioned as the “catalyst for positive change,” and the central organizing force in implementing programs that will increase demand for potatoes, please visit uspotatoes.com.